Pages from our lives
by princ3ssf33t
Summary: Now a series of one-shots with our favorite two brothers at the various points throughout their lives. Chapter 3: They were supposed to making a thank you cake for Winry, not making an utter disaster in her kitchen.
1. Reliving the Past

**Prompt: "I'm pregnant." Ed/Winry**

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Ed knew he was a smart man. He had become a State Alchemist at the age of twelve and beat Truth to get Al's body back. He could recite all of the elements from memory and was still at the top of alchemical knowledge despite being unable to perform alchemy anymore.

Yet he was struck dumb at the words that had come out of Winry's mouth.

"I'm pregnant."

Ed could practically feel his hair standing on end. Here he was, barely twenty-one years old, less than a year into his marriage, and he was going to be a father?

His mouth went dry and his palms began to sweat. Did he have what it took to be a father? His own had left before he had even started his schooling. And while he no longer harbored the anger towards Hohenheim, he still couldn't picture the old man as his dad. There was General Bastard, but Ed would trade a limb before admitting that he saw his former superior as any sort of father figure. Not that he was a good role model in any case. Becoming a human weapon for the government and assisting with the slaughter of a race left a rather dark mark on a reputation.

So no, he didn't have the greatest models to draw on.

Winry watched as her husband did nothing. She certainly didn't expect for him to immediately jump for joy at her news, they were still so young after all, but she expected something from Ed. Something more than what she got anyway. A question. A laugh. A smile. She would have settled for a denial. Anything.

"Ed? Edward, talk to me. What's going on in that alchemical brain of yours?"

Ed said nothing to answer Winry. His eyes were focused on something beyond what she could see. A sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead and his hands were clenched tightly at his sides. Winry could see his knees were beginning to quake. She recognized the stance.

"Ed come here. You need to sit down. Before you collapse."

She grabbed him by the elbow and half steered, half dragged her shell-shocked husband down to the nearest chair. He dropped with a hard thud into it. Winry sat down in the chair across from him at the table but kept a firm grip on his hand. Her thumb rubbed the top of his knuckles on his right hand. She waited patiently for him to return to her. She had waited years for him to recognize his own feelings for her, she could wait a few minutes for him to return to himself.

Ed could see it now. A little boy or girl with his eyes and Winry's temperament, perhaps inheriting her love for automail, or his passion for alchemy. Hopefully the kid would avoid his temper, but that was a fifty-fifty shot.

He could see the kid playing in the yard with Den, being underfoot as Winry worked on automail, the heartbroken look on the kid's face as he left to further his research. And it was the last one that got him where it hurt. Because he knew that kid. He was that kid a long time ago. And he never wanted to be the cause of that despair for anyone else.

"A baby, huh?" His voice croaked out. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. Couldn't bear to let her see how much he was terrified.

"Ed?" Winry squeezed his hand. She was willing to wait for him to regain his head, but that wasn't to mean that she wasn't going to give him a little nudge to get him started.

Ed did nothing. Figures, he always did need a wrench to the face rather than subtly.

"Edward Elric, look me in the eyes. Right now." She kept her voice calm and level. She wasn't mad and did not want to give the impression she was.

Slowly his golden eyes moved from looking at where their hands were intertwined to look at Winry's blue eyes. He noticed her hair was pulled back, meaning she had been spending time in her workshop again. The smudge of grease across her cheek confirmed it. But her big blue eyes were what drew him in again.

"You are not your father. You're not Hohenheim, or General Mustang. You won't make the same mistakes they did, I promise you. You'll make your own and that will be fine. You've always come back to me haven't you?"

Winry smiled, gave his hand a pat and left him to stew over everything she just gave him. He would come to his senses sooner or later.

Ed remained seated. Winry was right. Then again, most often Winry was right about these types of things. It got annoying at times. But still, she was right.

He wasn't Hohenheim. He wasn't Mustang. He was Ed. Winry believed in him and was right, again. He wouldn't turn out to be like them. He came back, he always came back. If anything, this gave him a stronger reason to come back home.

For the first time since the news was broken a smile spread across Ed's face. He was going to be a father. With Winry, the love of his life.

Suddenly he stood and strode out of their kitchen. He needed to find his wife. To thank her. To express his joy and nerves at this new chapter in their lives. To remind her he was an idiot and needed a wrench to the face sometimes.

When he finally found he again, she was in her workshop tinkering with a customer's automail. Ed wasn't surprised. Winry had a tendency to dive headlong into her work when something was troubling her. And having a husband that completely froze at the news of pregnancy was certainly troubling.

Winry was biting her lip as she was attempting to get the gunk out of a joint. Ed couldn't help but think of how attractive he found it.

"Hey Win?"

Winry hummed in response, but didn't tear her eyes away from the appendage in her hands. She was in her own world now. Edward gave a small snort and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Ed, I'm working," she complained.

"I know. I just wanted to tell you that you were right. Again. I'm not Hohenheim and I won't leave you and the kid. I promise."

Winry turned her head from her work to look at Ed's face, her blue eyes sparkling with wisdom and a hint of something else.

"I know that already. You just needed to see it yourself. Now get out of here, Mr. Carson's leg need maintenance. How he managed to get his knee joint so jammed I'll never know. He's almost as bad as you, and he doesn't go any further than his mailbox on the weekends."

Ed smiled. There was the woman he married.

"I'll start dinner."

Winry hummed again and turned back to her work.

Ed was at ease as he left his pregnant wife to work. Sure, he was still nervous, but that was to be expected. If a new parent wasn't nervous the first time around (and possibly the times after) then that parent wasn't fit to be a parent in the first place.

But Ed was happy. While his hadn't been something he expected it was something that he was going to take at full stride. He could do this, whatever this became. After all, he had taken down that Father guy on the Promised Day and got Al back into his own body again. How challenging could changing a few diapers be in comparison to that?

* * *

 **Bonus:**

"Ow, ow, ow. Sweetheart you're pulling Daddy's hair. Stop tha- Ow!"

Ed was currently a jungle gym for his youngest. And his oldest. Actually, he was a jungle gym for all of his children. Had it not been raining outside, he would have kicked their little butts outside to entertain themselves for a few hours. He had a list of things to do before Al and Mei returned from Xing.

His youngest, instead of letting go of his ponytail, used it as leverage to climb higher onto his shoulders. And as he tried to counterbalance the weight on his neck, he found his arms and legs were pinned by his other children. There was a short tumble and everyone landed in a heap on the floor.

Ed heard laughter and looked to see Winry standing in the doorway.

"I bet you find this hilarious," Ed muttered.

"It certainly is amusing," she concurred.

"Promise me no more- Ow!"

"Can't do that."

Ed struggled to free himself from his spawns grip to look Winry in the face. She had that sparkle in her eyes that told him she knew something he didn't.

"Win?"

"You best break out the crib from the attic, we'll be needing it soon." And with a wink and a smile she escaped into her workshop.

Ed blinked stupidly for a moment and opened his mouth to call after his wife when one of his kids took the time to jab their elbow, or knee, into his stomach, knocking the wind from him.

 _This is the last one, I swear,_ Ed promised himself.

That was what he said last time.

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 _A/N: Forgive me if anyone is terribly OOC. I've never written these characters before, but I think I did alright for myself._


	2. The First Snow

Thinking back on it, it was a little difficult for Al to recall just when exactly he felt the biting cold of a proper winter. He could remember his childhood in Resembool when the school closed due to a large downpour of snow one morning. He remembered how his brother built one of the ugliest snowmen he had ever seen. He remembered that once the other kids arrived there had been an epic snow battle that left every kid red and sweating and in need of a warm bath when they went home.

But he couldn't remember the feel of the cold.

Which was why he ran outside without proper clothing or shoes the next time he saw the flurries drifting down from the sky after he regained his body. His brother and Winry were yelling at him to put on shoes and a coat, but he ignored them and continued out in his stockings.

The air was brisk and nipped at Al's cheeks and nose. As he breathed, he could see it condense in the air in front of him. He laughed at the white puff. The snow drifted down and landed on his eyelashes and the ends of his hair. His palms turned upwards and when the frozen flakes landed, they melted under the heat of his body. It was a beautiful thing to see. To see snow landing on his body and not pile up because he was the same temperature as the air around him. He was _warm_.

He heard a small bell-like laugh behind him and he turned. Mei was standing on the porch fully bundled up for the winter weather. He smiled brightly at her.

"It's amazing isn't it? My first snowfall since I got my body back."

It was true. In the two years where he stayed in Resembool after he was reunited with his body it had not snowed this much. There was an occasional flurry that never managed to make it down to the ground and the frost was a regular appearance, but nothing that could be considered a proper snowfall. Then after those two years, he'd travelled to Xing where he was surrounded by near-tropical jungles that could receive feet of rain a year, but never saw a flake of snow.

Al hadn't complained. There was so much that he was learning. Between alchestry and Ling showing him the ins and outs of the political realm and the growing relationship he had with Mei, he didn't have the time to think about snow and cold.

But now the cold and the snow was here and it was all he could think about.

"Mei, don't you thi—What are you doing?" Al turned his head from the sky to look at his companion to see her bending down gathering snow in her hands.

Mei's only answer was to smile widely. She packed the snow into a tighter ball.

"Mei, what are you thinking?" He knew exactly what she was thinking. The innocent face she put up may fool the rest of the world from seeing her devious side, but Al knew. There was a certain sparkle in her eye and crook to her smile that he could read like an open book.

"Mei, don't you dare throw that snowba-"

 _Thwack!_

The snowball landed solidly in the center of his face. Her aim was perfect as it always was. The white power exploded and his entire face was coated in a crust of white. He blinked a couple of times before wiping his face clean with a hand. His golden eyes focused in on the smaller woman in front of him.

She was attempting to hide her giggles behind her hand.

"Oh, is that how it is?" He raised an eyebrow to her.

"You know that's how it is."

The gauntlet had been thrown. All that was left was for Alphonse to pick it up or to let it rest where she had thrown it. Al shifted his weight, like he was debating whether or not to take Mei up on her challenge.

As fast as he could, Al scooped up the snow at on the ground near his feet, packed it quickly and threw it back at Mei. She attempted to dodge, but the snow made the connection at her shoulder. Her laugh echoed into the night.

She retaliated nearly as fast as he had. She made her way off of the porch and away from the windows. Neither Ed, Winry or Granny would appreciate if a snowball missed its mark and flew through the window. Especially Ed, as he was now the handyman for fixing the problems with the house that would rear its head.

Their play fight devolved to a point where neither Al or Mei made the effort to pack the snow into balls anymore. They would take a scoop of snow and throw it at the other's face. Their circling each other grew tighter until it reached the point where Al could reach out and touch her. It was then that she moved her foot and tripped him so he lay on his back in the snow. Her laughter was bright and it mingled with his, floating in the air with the snow.

His golden eyes shone as he watched Mei lean over him. She was beautiful in the winter night. Her hair was a little disheveled from their play and the snow clung to the dark strands. Her nose and cheeks took on a rosy pink tinge from the cold air. And her smile sent warmth down Al's spine.

"A little help?" He asked, holding his hand up to her.

Mei grabbed his hand and instead of pulling Al to a standing position, Mei was pulled down to the ground. Her kindness was received with snow pressed into her face and hair. She shrieked and was quick to respond in kind. The snow she grabbed found a new home down Al's shirt. He yelped at the sudden change of temperature, and shoved more snow into Mei's face.

A sharp whistle broke through their laughter, and together they broke off their wrestling in the snow.

Al looked over to the house to see Ed on the porch bouncing his daughter on his hip.

"I get that the two of you are gonna be married soon, but could you keep the foreplay to a minimum? I would prefer not to have _that_ conversation with my son for another few years, if you don't mind." Ed stared down at the two of them.

Mei sighed as she pulled herself up and brushed off some of the snow from her outerwear. She leveled her gaze on Ed.

"Like you would be the one to explain it. We all know that Winry would take care of that. You still get red in the face whenever you think about Winry. She's your _wife_ and gave _birth_ to your two children. We all know what happens behind closed doors."

Successfully silenced at Mei's retort, Ed's face blushed an awful red. His mouth opened and closed a few times, before he glared at Mei and Alphonse and marched himself and his daughter back inside the warm house.

Mei and Al side-eyed each other for a moment before bursting into laughter again. There were some things that would never change. Al rose to stand next Mei and wrapped an arm around her waist. She turned to him and smiled.

"He makes it too easy."

Al leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you, you know."

She smiled. "I know. Now let's get you inside. I can't have you getting sick because you decided to run outside without any winter clothes on. That is how you get sick love. Let's go in and see if Winry could make some hot chocolate and spare some of her apple pie." She patted his stomach and started walking back indoors.

Al watched as his fiancée walked back indoors. As glad as he was to experience the snow and the cold once again, this was even better. Heading into the warmth of the house with those he loved most dearly with a warm drink and pie after a good tumble in the snow was something that he hadn't been physically capable for years of his life.

He wouldn't trade this moment for the world.

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 **A/N: Look at the fluff. I can't seem to write anything but fluff for these two. But that's okay, because they deserve all of the fluff in the world.**


	3. Baking is not Alchemy

**This is post-Brotherhood/manga bust before the brothers split up to go east and west.**

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The kitchen was a disaster. That much was certain. There wasn't a surface that wasn't covered in a fine layer of flour or was cleaned of the thick goop that was supposed to be dough. It was said that alchemy was created in the kitchen, and that may be true, but it certainly wasn't the kitchen the Elrics found themselves in.

It was, as previously mentioned, a disaster.

The worst part was that it wasn't even their kitchen. It was the Rockbell's. And it looked like some sort of cake exploded to coat every surface available. The two responsible for the mess hadn't even made an attempt to clean it up either. They were staring through the glass door in the oven.

"It looks lopsided Brother."

In the time it took for Ed's heart to beat once, his temper spiked.

"Yeah? Well I wasn't the one to pour the batter out Al." His teeth ground against one another in a vain attempt to keep his emotions in check.

Al's hand came to rest on his brother's shoulder. His skin was still pale from all those years his body spent alone with Truth beyond the portal and he was still too skinny, but the recent weight Al had been putting on was filling out the sunken areas of his face and some of the color was back in his cheeks.

Winry and Granny still spent mealtimes making sure that Al ate enough, if not too much to ensure that he would return to a healthy weight.

Which was why the Elric boys were attempting to bake a cake. To show them how much every little thing Winry and Granny had done while they were still attempting to obtain their original bodies back. They couldn't do it when the women were in the house, it was supposed to be a surprise and a gift. So they seized the opportunity when Granny and Winry went into town to run a few errands on their day off.

Neither Ed or Al realized how unprepared they were for baking anything. They were both alchemists (at one point); alchemy couldn't have been all that much different than baking in the kitchen. They were wrong.

"Take it easy, Brother. I'm sure Winry and Granny will like it whether or not its lopsided. As long as we followed the directions correctly anyway." Al's hand patted Ed's shoulder before he turned to put his back to oven looking at the mess they had created across the rest of the kitchen.

"When is Granny and Winry supposed to be back from town? Do you think we'll be able to clean this all up before then?"

Ed sighed and stretched as he turned to face the mess with his brother. He couldn't help but cringe a little. It really was an all-encompassing mess. Ed could practically feel the looming shadow of Winry's wrench. His eye twitched at the thought.

"I hope we can finish it. I wouldn't want to face Winry _and_ Granny's wrath for messing up their kitchen." Ed paused for a moment, before glancing at his brother from the corner of his eye. "Hey, Al, do you think that-?"

"No way Brother. You insisted that we were going to bake this cake the old-fashioned way without alchemy to help, and we are going to clean up the same way." Al returned his brother's glance before he reached out to gather some of the utensils that were strewn over the countertop.

Ed grumbled but joined his brother in the cleanup. Wetting a rag sitting at the side of the sink, Ed began to wipe down surfaces that managed to become coated in the various powders of their ingredients.

One spot was exceedingly difficult. Ed couldn't figure what it was, but he knew that whatever it was had crusted itself firmly to the countertop and would take deliberate scrubbing to remove. And he set himself to put forth the elbow grease needed when suddenly there was a sound.

A very bad sound. The sound of a door.

The sound of the front door opening and closing.

Ed grew very still for a moment before lifting his head from the task under his hand to stare out the kitchen's doorway towards the front entrance. He didn't have to look over at Al to know that he was doing the same and Ed. The sound of dishes being clanked against one another and the splash of water stopped. Together they waited in silence, hardly daring to breathe, waiting for the bombshell.

"Ed? Al? We're back. Where are you guys?" Winry's voice called out into the house.

Ed heard the heavy thud of whatever automail supplies she had gotten in town on the dining table, and his heart picked up the pace. Winry was only a few paces away from the kitchen. She would look in and see the disaster that currently was her grandmother's kitchen. And never mind that Ed and Al had tried to do something nice, as a way of thanking her for everything that they had ever done when they were on their journey, Ed was going to end up with his face half caved in for messing up the clean kitchen.

"Ed? Are you sneaking food from the kitchen again?"

Ed could somewhat hear the snicker of his brother over the pounding of blood in his ears, but he was in motion before Winry had finished her sentence. He leapt over the counter, a feat he had not been able to accomplish years ago, and rushed to the doorway. He was quick to throw his larger-than-Winry's body in the door to block the view to the inside.

The sudden appearance of Ed in the door startled Winry. Her hand jumped to her chest for a moment before she gave a disapproving frown.

"Don't jump out like that. What were you doing in there anyway?" Winry dipped her head to one side to peek at the kitchen.

"Ah," Ed side-stepped to block her view, "well, it's a surprise. You'll see later."

Winry narrowed her eyes. Ed knew he was being evasive and that would raise red flags with her.

"What are you hiding Ed?" Her hands came to rest on Ed's shoulder as she tried to maneuver him so she could see.

"It's not ready yet! Sorry!" As fast as he could, Ed pried Winry's hands from his person and gave her a small shove back in the direction she came from before slamming the kitchen door. He took a deep breath as he leaned against the door. When he opened his eyes, Al was having a hard time controlling his laughter.

Ed swallowed thickly.

"Do you-? Do you think she saw?"

Before Al could open his mouth, there was a pounding on the door behind Ed's head and Winry's voice came through.

"You better clean up that mess before I get in there Edward! What did you think you were doing?"

Ed could feel sweat on his forehead, but it did nothing to keep him from running his mouth. "I told you Winry it's a surprise."

She huffed and moved off to a different area of the house. Ed couldn't help but feel he dodged a flying wrench. Al was still laughing at him.

"Best get to work Brother. She's letting you off easy today." Al tossed his brother the rag he had been using before.

Despite the looming threat above his head, Ed smiled. Yeah. Things were back too normal. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

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 **A/N: Thanks everyone for reading. If you could take the time and leave a review that would be wonderful!**


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